Walter Manninen: The Collector
What happens when “the son of a Gloucester plumber” amasses a prominent art collection?
Endicott College’s Walter Manninen Center for the Arts opened in 2009 and is the centerpiece of the college’s growth.
It happens when you see that one flaw. The one you overlooked.
“You bury those mistakes as fast as you can,” Walter Manninen says. “If there is any collector who said they hadn’t made a mistake, I’m not sure I’d believe them.”
Walter Manninen has been collecting art for four decades. Owning “at this point 300 or 350 unique pieces of art,” he can be excused for a couple misguided purchases in the past.
His collection has enormous value. “I know that a Jane Peterson I have is worth up to half a million dollars,” he says. “I have one of the largest collections of Teresa Bernstein (see images, below). I don’t keep track of the value, but I have some humdingers.”
If you didn’t talk to Walter Manninen about his art, if you didn’t see the love he has for painting and expressive technique, you’d believe he did it just because art is a good investment.
It is, but that’s not the point.
Manninen believes you collect art for love, because it “nourishes your soul.” This is not some rich boy whose daddy left him a bundle. This is the hard-working son of a plumber, a Gloucester kid who learned to collect and support those artists he loved, with money he earned along the way.
Of course mistakes have happened.
“You buy something because you love the color, or the composition, or sometimes you chase a name rather than a piece. And if it’s not a premiere piece, if won’t make your collection stand out in any way.
“Then you get it home. And you see something that doesn’t seem right, just something small usually. Something that doesn’t seem deliberate, and you don’t embrace the piece of art anymore. It’s happened to me a few times.”
Manninen had brilliant success as a businessman, first as a banker and a loan officer, and then as a magazine publisher — he was CEO of CXO Media in Framingham, which published trade magazines for executives in the technology and security fields.
“I truly believe that you do not have to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to collect,” he says. “You have to stretch a little. You have to do your research. But if you collect things that inspire you, you’ll never regret it.”
“You don’t want to spend money on something that won’t appreciate,” he says, “but I need to see it bring an emotional return too.”
“I never anticipated that I would have this enormous collection. Or that I would be doing something philanthropic. But I couldn’t live without the art. It inspired me. I wanted to live with these things.”
Manninen lives in a modest home in Rockport’s Pigeon Cove, surrounded by his work. Completely surrounded — there are paintings on the walls, on every available space, and others on the floor in front of those paintings, waiting to be hung.
“It will be different if you came here tomorrow,” he says. “I try to create the perfect Zen, and make complementary choices.”
Asked to summarize his interests, he says the collection is “American modernist, with a heavy slant toward women artists.” It’s a collection that begins — literally, from Manninen’s first purchases — with works by Theresa Bernstein (pictured above). His collection includes Bernstein’s husband, William Meyerowitz, as well as Marguerite Pearson, Jane Peterson, and Jeff Weaver. “I might have 45 Bernsteins,” he says, “and ten by Weaver, fifteen by Pearson and ten by Peterson. They say if you have three pieces by the same artist, you’re a collector.”
Manninen has developed some simple guidelines after decades of collecting. “Go and meet them, if you’re collecting from living artists,” he says. “Go see their studio. Ask them about the art. The truth is, you can always negotiate the price.
“I also try to make certain that the painting is in a medium that the artist is known for, with subjects they are known for as well,” he says. “If you’re building a museum collection, go to auctions of deceased artists. If you want to be serious, the art that sells in these venues has been vetted.”
Manninen’s background — he’s basically a working-class kid who did very well in business, and decided to invest in art along the way — might seem unusual to most, but not to him. He’s just been following his passion.
“Look at the Vogels, in New York,” he says, referring to the couple that was well-known for their collection of famous miniatures. “He worked in the post office, she was a librarian, and they bought little pieces of art all their lives. Their collection is unbelievable. Here are people who bought art for very little money. People who had a passion, who did a lot of homework. People who bought what they loved.”
Study it, view it, and if it appeals to you, buy it. That could sum up his approach.
“And if you like something, get it,” he emphasizes. “When I started out, I was torn at one point between two paintings, a Meyerowitz and a Bernstein. I hesitated, and when I went back the Bernstein was gone. That was the one I wanted, and I learned a lesson.”
• • •
“The inspiration hasn’t changed, but the technical skill has over forty years,” he says of his own choices. “I’ve become a smarter critic. I took art lessons” — with Manchester artist Juni Van Dyke — “and boy does that open your eyes. It refined my understanding of execution. I look at things now and say, ‘Never in a million years could I do that.’ ”
Manninen focuses on what he calls building “a museum collection” — choosing works like a curator would, with an eye to building something with integrity and significance. “I’ve always used museum collections as something of a guideline. I follow what the Rockport Art Association does, and what they do in Provincetown. The Cape Ann Museum. Whatever they were collecting, I wanted to do the same thing.”
His approach varies from other collectors — “I’m trying to build something, rather than just put money in a safe haven” — and that approach led to his most significant philanthropic venture, Endicott College’s Walter Manninen Center for the Arts, which opened in 2009 and now the centerpiece of that college’s growth. It was Manninen’s gift of hundreds of works from his collection that caused the center to be renamed for him, and that gift will keep his collection intact long after he is gone.
“About the time I turned 55 I starting thinking about my legacy,” Manninen says. “I wanted to do something substantial, and significant. I see the value of what I have when I educate people about the art. The education component is important to me.”
It took some time to find an institution that met Manninen’s needs, but “when I approached Endicott, it was the easiest thing that ever happened. I talked to the president, Richard Wiley, and told him I wanted my work used for the public and for educational purposes. They could not divest the art to raise funds. They had to acquire other assets. And lastly the institution needed to really want it. I gave Endicott my wish list, and it was agreed upon right away.
“I could have given the work to a museum,” he says, “but you can’t brand a collection in a museum. You can do that with a college. And I never wanted to be a branch, I wanted to be a tree.
“I never anticipated that I would have this enormous collection,” he says. “Or that I would be doing something philanthropic. But I couldn’t live without the art. It inspired me. I wanted to live with these things.”
His desire “to live with these things” has helped transform the entire area. “I look at it as art alley on the North Shore now,” he says. “From the Peabody Essex Museum, to Montserrat, to Endicott, then the Cape Ann Museum, and Rockport and Rocky Neck.”
► For more information on the Walter J. Manninen Center for the Arts, visit their website.
